Patrick Stewart has boldly gone where no Trekkie has gone before: Buckingham Palace.

The actor — famous for playing Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation — officially became Sir Patrick Stewart when he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in London on Wednesday.

The Queen is reported to be a fan of the 69-year-old acting vet, who has enjoyed a 50-year career in movies, TV, and the theater — including 16 years with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

“It was an unlooked-for honor but as I grew up as a child, falling in love with the theatre and Shakespeare, my heroes were Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir John Gielgud, Sir Alec Guinness. The knights of the theater represented to me not only the pinnacle of the profession but the esteem in which the profession was held. And now to find myself, to my astonishment, in that company is the grandest thing that has professionally happened to me.”